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Sunday, March 3, 2013

The Lighthouse Board at World's Fairs

In
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the world's premiere
manufacturers came together every few years to show off their newest
technology at huge international exhibitions. In 1851, one of the
earliest of these, known as "The Great Exposition" was held at the
Crystal Palace in London. This contemporary illustration shows the great
hall at the exhibition with one of Chance Brothers Magnificent Fresnel
lenses prominently displayed.

Chance Brothers Fresnel
lenses on display at the 1851 Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in London

While
the Lighthouse Board was specifically formed in 1852 to improve the
administration and technology in US lighthouses, it took almost two
decades for them to come close to catching up with the European
lighthouse establishments. At the 1862 International Exhibition (again
held in London) the Brits proudly showed off this
electrically-illuminated Fresnel lens powered by "Holme's
Magneto-Electric" lighting system.

Holme's
Magneto-Electric" lighting system and Fresnel lens at the 1862 exhibition in London

With the International Exposition of 1876
being held in its own back yard in Philadelphia, The US Lighthouse Board
seized on the opportunity to show the world the great strides it had
taken. In addition to the impressive First Order lens prominently
visible to the left, the display also featured a detailed model of the
construction crib and tower of the recently completed lighthouse on
Spectacle Reef in Lake Huron, which would long be heralded as one of the
world's most important monolithic stone engineering achievements.

The Lighthouse Board exhibit at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia

In a little over a half century, Chicago
soared from a site of a minor frontier military outpost to challenge New
York's role as the country's premier city. To herald its "arrival" on
the world stage, the city laid plans to host the World's
Fair to end all World's Fairs on the 500th anniversary of Christopher
Columbus' setting foot in the New World. The site selected for the
Exhibition consisted of 600 acres of swampy land along the Lake Michigan
shoreline to the south of the city, requiring a massive effort in the
dumping of innumerable loads of fill dirt and the driving of untold
thousands of timber pilings to create the necessary land and lagoons.

A poster advertising the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago

While the site for the Columbian Exhibition
was dedicated on October 21, 1892, the fairgrounds were not actually
opened to the public until May 1, 1893. The fair immediately became
known as the "White City" as a result of the white classical
exteriors of its many buildings. The "Manufacturers Building" was not
only the largest building on the fair grounds, but at 1,687 feet by 787
feet was the largest building in the world at the time. Housing an
exhibit space of 44 acres, its central hall spanned 370 feet and soared
211 feet above the ground, providing intrepid visitors this expansive
view of the fair grounds and Lake Michigan from an observation platform
atop the roof. the appearance of massive permanence of the fair
buildings was a total deception, as although built over heavy steel
skeletons, their exterior surfaces were constructed of a mixture of
plaster of Paris, cement and jute known as "staff," and were only
designed to last for the year of the exhibition, to be torn down soon
after the fair was closed on October 9.

The view from the observation platform on the roof of the Manufacturers Building

The Government Building at the Columbian
Exhibition housed displays from the various federal agencies, showing
the wonderful things they were accomplishing with citizen's tax dollars.
The Lighthouse Board originally planned on exhibiting in
two spaces associated with this building - a 100 foot by 50 foot area
within the building itself, and 150 foot square area outside the
building adjacent to one of the canals. Unfortunately, finding itself
short of the necessary $15,000 cost, the Board had to make do with a
significantly reduced space of 50 feet by 24 feet within the building
itself and 150 feet by 50 feet outside by the canal at a total projected
cost of $5,686.95.

The Government Building at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exhibition

While only being able to afford a 50 foot by
24 foot display area within the Manufacturing building at the 1893
Columbian Exhibition, the Lighthouse Board managed to shoehorn in a
fairly significant number of interesting items to show how far
they had advanced, as shown in the photograph below of the display. Included
were lenses of the hyper radiant, First, Second, Fourth and Fifth
orders along with a number lamps, models, plans and photographs.

The interior portion of the Lighthouse Board exhibit at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition

The photograph below shows a different view of the
Lighthouse Board exhibit at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition. While it had
now been 20 years since construction of the lighthouse on Spectacle
Reef, it was still considered such an important engineering
feat that the model of the crib and tower originally displayed at the
1876 World's fair in Philadelphia was dusted off and proudly redisplayed
to the fair's visitors. The paintings on the rear wall featured the
illustrious gentlemen who had served as Chairmen of the Board since its
founding in 1852

The model of Spectacle Reef lighthouse in the Lighthouse Board exhibit at the Columbian Exhibition

The Lighthouse Board's outside display at the
1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago consisted of a 50 foot by 100 foot
area located on one of the lagoons. As can be seen in this photograph,
the display was located adjacent to the Lifesaving Service
exhibit, which took the form of a fully functioning lifesaving station
complete with boathouse, boats and tramway. In addition to a number of
different designs of buoys, the Lighthouse Board exhibit included a
skeletal iron lighthouse tower erected for the duration of the fair.

The exterior portion of the Lighthouse Board exhibit at the Columbian Exhibition

The tower in the Lighthouse Board's outside
display at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition dominated the area. The tower
had been ordered by the Lighthouse Board to serve as a new rear
structure for the Waackaack Range lights in Keansburgh, New Jersey,
and its erection at Waackaack was postponed so it could be shipped
directly to the Chicago Fair. Designed like a giant erector set, with
each of its components identified numerically, it was a relatively
simple process to erect the structure for the duration of the fair.

The lighthouse on display at the Columbian Exhibition

There has been much speculation as to what
happened to the lighthouse tower exhibited by the Lighthouse Board after
the 1893 Columbian Exhibition closed. However, there is plenty of
primary source material which proves that it was disassembled
after the show and shipped to Keansburgh, new Jersey where it was
re-erected to serve as a rear tower for the Waackaack range lights, as
was the Board's original intention use for the structure. This circa
1910 postcard of the Waackaack rear range tower clearly shows numerous
clues which graphically speak to the heritage of the structure.

The tower from the Columbian Exhibition after its re-erection as the Waackaack Rear Range Light

The US Lighthouse Board was not the only
entity to include examples of lighthouse illumination technology at the
1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. Here we see an overall photograph
of the exhibit of French lens manufacturer Barbier, which displayed its
wares in the Electric Building.

The Barbier Exhibit in the Electricity Building at the Columbian Exhibition

As one of a number of suppliers of kerosene
for use in lighthouse illumination, even the Standard Oil Company
featured a Fresnel lens as part of its display in the Machinery Hall at
the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exhibition.

A Fresnel lens in the Standard Oil exhibit at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition